Pau Gasol and the Lakers have had a train wreck of a season so far. Pau is seeing nearly all his numbers being below career average (12.6/8.9/3.5/0.5/1.2 with 42% FG and 76% FT) and having “knee tendinitis” to boot. As such, I had to move him down in the tiers because you can’t be a Victoria’s Secret model with those type of numbers. I’m sticking him two tiers lower in the “Hotter than you realize” tier because this season he’s going to be that cliche chick from the late 90’s early 00’s (i.e. She’s All That) that is actually really pretty if she would just try. Pau, just try man. I know you don’t like playing away from the post, but just try. I’m a believer in you and when you start trying… will you be my prom date? Well that got a little weird.

This week I’m combining Forwards and Centers because of that ninja kidnapping last week. Think of it as a Hanukkah present except only one day. So maybe it would then be an early Christmas present. Don’t celebrate either? Is that even possible? It’s presents, man. Everybody loves presents. Now go unwrap them:

Some quick hits: Andrea Bargnani tore an elbow ligament and will be out 1-2 months so I am dropping him substantially because he hasn’t even been that good when healthy. Tim Duncan just keeps KILLIN’ it so I can’t keep him down any longer. Josh Smith and Nicolas Batum have essentially switched spots but with Batum’s injury and Smith blowing up lately I may have to switch them back again soon.

@Jon: Yeah I’d do that. Alot of Ryan Anderson’s value comes from hitting 3’s (basically no defensive stats from him), so if there isn’t a separate cat for 3’s then he isn’t worth as much. 2 points per assist is really helpful even with Lillard’s 3 TO’s per game.

@Jon: I already said I wouldn’t do that, but here’s why – Anderson’s perceived value is much higher than his actual value, and he still has a lot of actual value. Over the past 2 weeks, Anderson is ranked 15th in points and 7th in threes…as a PF/C. Plus, he still generates an assist or two per game. I love Lillard but I think you can net more for Ryan and Tyreke than MKG and DL.

But hey, man, we could both be wrong and Anderson and Lillard could collide, destroying each other’s knees, careers and lives.

Wow you have Aldridge ranked over Duncan, Bosh and Horford? Great news to me because I own Aldridge and picked him up 8th overall over Josh Smith, Wade and Deron Williams in a 12 team h2h league but why do you have him ranked so high?

@Jeff: The ranks are for ROS not previous performance. Keeping that in mind, I do not expect Duncan to keep playing like he’s 28 years old the whole season. Horford has been tanking owners’ FT% all season and Aldridge has been shooting ~80% from the line, which is extremely valuable from a big man. So that’s why I have Aldridge over those guys. Bosh has also been ridiculous and I see him regressing some because he is shooting 54% from the field when his career average is below 50%. Also, Aldridge will be one of the main focal points of a shallow Blazers team (look for his FG% to rebound slightly as well).

@Zandy: What’s so great about Hickson? We know what he gives you. Some pts, good rebounds, and a good FG%. Not exactly scarce stuff right there and very little defensive stats. Seraphin is apparently dealing with an illness right now and look for him to have the much higher ceiling ROS.

@Zandy: Maybe in the past week or so but overall, not really. You could say he’s outperforming Kawhi Leonard and GWall but they’ve been injured a bit this season. Turner is right around a top 80 player. Lack of 3’s, STL, BLK, and low FG%.

Larry Sanders is still underrated. He’s comparable value to HIbbert in terms of performance. One less point one less rebound, but significantly better FG%, 37% on 10 shots a game vs. 51.6% on 6.3 shots a game.

Patrick Patterson is no David West and it’s not even close!!! Look at the rebounds, assists, and points. 0.7 3s a game is not enough to mitigate those other factors.

@Eric: AK47 and Parsons have been great but I’m betting on Iggy figuring out how to fit in on the new team sooner rather than later. Yes, Kevin Seraphin is droppable but is worth a flyer if you can afford it. Does my ranking of Scola tell you he’s amazing or something? He’s a top 80-100 player and I ranked him in that area. Larry Sanders has been great and Hibbert has been a disappointment, if you need blocks then Sanders will help you immensely. Most of his value reside in blocks though. Hibbert has been notorious of going through spells of inactivity but when he’s on, he’s on fire. I believe in the talent. I’d look for West to regress some from his hot start, that’s why he’s in the same tier as Patterson.

Ok, I just looked at Scola’s numbers, not as bad as I thought, so you’re right.

Patterson is at least one tier lower than David West. David West is a proven commodity – last year was an anomaly because he was coming back from injury/surgery. Patterson is a poor man’s version of David West at best.

I’ve had Hibbert in the past and his numbers *should* improve but what does Sanders do differently other than score less? The rebounds will come now that he’s in the starting line up.

Lastly Carmelo is just below Durant & Lebron and should be separated from the rest of the SFs because of his elite scoring & 3s. Averaging 1.5 steals and 0.8 blocks in Dec so defense stats are improving.

@Eric: Fair enough on West, the only thing is that he’s getting old. If he keeps up what he’s doing another couple weeks I would make that change. Right now we don’t know if Sanders will keep this up or is just having a good stretch, especially with Ilysasova showing some life. So he gets knocked a bit for that. He definitely should be on rosters until we find out. Carmelo is definitely on a tear… however putting him into his own tier just seems like splitting hairs.

@Clever Internet Meme: At this point it’s becoming really hard to argue against Varejao. I love Pekovic and think Gortat will be better than what he has done lately (remember the beginning of the season?) so if you want to accept it’s fair.

@Steve: Oh man, keeper league involving anthony davis? Not sure if you’d be able to swipe him. Yes I’d keep CP3 and a. davis if that happened. I don’t see Noah being too big of a help on your team unless that ridiculous FT% is for real (career 73%). You should be looking to win FT%, AST, STL, 3PM, and PTS with that team.

@Steve: Yea figured it would look something like that, although it looks like I lowballed you a little bit in the REB department. Looks like your sacrificing some FT% for boards (basically, Omer Asik haha). Seems like its working out OK though.

@James Redacted: Yes, Asik is responsible for both. Bargnani wasn’t great before his injury, now he will suck even more. Feels like a big rock on my back now, if he’s out for a month or more.
Would you say he is a “hold” or “drop”? Also it may depend on the team’s situation I guess.

I know this is Fowards and Centers but…. if I own Wall. Should I be dropping Hickson/Vucevic/Seraphin for Jordan Crawford in case Friday’s knee exam goes badly? Do you think Crawford keeps up his latest average run of 20pts, 5 asst, 5 rebs, 1 stl, 2 3s? Why isnt he getting more love? Seems like if Wall is out this guy is like Paul George without the blocks… Why wouldn’t the Wiz move him to the 2 guard with Wall back and the two of them light it up? What am I missing?

@Para Noid: All questions are answered so no worries. Jordan Crawford will contribute in many categories but holy god does he tank your FG%. He shoots about 40% on 13 shots per game. I even mentioned him in wednesday’s blog that he should be owned if you can take the FG% hit. Not sure what type of league you are in but if you don’t need the big men stats then yeah, I’d drop either Seraphin or Hickson for him.

I’m in an 18 teamer and with all the injuries in Toronto what kind of mins/stats do you see AMIR J getting? is the guy gonna get some run? or did this mouthpiece tossing fiasco put him deeper into the doghouse?

@Homeboy: See my Buy/Sell today about Monroe. The FG% will rebound. If anything, Hibbert would be the one to move because he will end up being the worst FT shooter. GWall should also rebound at the line. I expect this team to be rather strong in FT by the end of the year. The Love trade is fair.